Courage F1 is a precocious hybrid cultivar of the female flowering type, intended for cultivation in film conditions and in the open ground. Its bearing occurs 1.5 months after the appearance of the first seedlings.
The hybrid brings dark green cucumbers 12-16 cm long and weighing 120-130 g, which have excellent taste. Attractive variety and high productivity - about 12 kg per 1 sq. Km. m beds.
Cucumbers Courage belong to early ripening
Seeds of cucumbers Courage
Cucumbers Courage
Grade description
Cucumber Courage F1 was bred by Russian breeders of the agricultural company Gavrish, and its authors are Gavrish S.F., Shamshina A.V. and Portyankin A.E. The variety was entered into the State register of selection achievements in 2002. The most suitable areas for its cultivation are:
- Stavropol region;
- Krasnodar region;
- Rostov region.
How the hybrid blooms and bears fruit, we will understand in more detail.
Bushes
According to the description of the variety, the cucumber bush Courage has the following characteristics:
- bunch (bunch) type of flowering - with proper care, from 2 to 4 bundles of ovaries are formed in the nodes of the stem, and from 3 to 8 buds appear in the axils of leaves on one ovary, and up to 25-30 ovaries can be poured simultaneously on one bush;
- indeterminate - the main stem grows non-stop, therefore, by the end of summer, the height of the central lash can reach 3-3.5 m;
- parthenocarpic - does not require pollination by bees or other insects, which positively affects the ovary, since there is no binding to weather conditions and insects;
- with moderate (close to average) ability to form new shoots;
- medium-branched and medium-sized, covered with green broad leaves of medium size, smooth to the touch and with weakly pronounced teeth along the edges.
Bushes have a well-developed root system and develop freely with planting density in the greenhouse of 2.5-3 plants per 1 square. m
Fruit
Courage hybrid cucumbers have the following characteristics:
- weight - small, on average 100-140 g;
- length - Zelentsy on the main stem reaches 13-16 cm in length, and on the side shoots they often gain up to 12-15 cm, because they are less supplied with nutrients and moisture;
- diameter (volume) - about 4-4.5 cm;
- the form - regular cylindrical, with slightly pronounced longitudinal ribs;
- Colour - dark green with a slight waxy coating and light longitudinal stripes reaching up to 1/3 of the length of the green;
- tuberosity - the skin is covered with frequent tubercles of medium size, each of which has spikes of a light shade;
- taste - the light green flesh is juicy, tender and sweet, it crunches nicely when bitten, does not bite, but it tastes somewhat worse than cucumber varieties pollinated by bees and specially bred for fresh consumption;
- destination - universal, therefore, greens can be consumed fresh, and canned (salt, pickle);
- keeping quality - cucumbers can be stored without loss of taste and marketability for 10 days after harvest.
Feature table
The main characteristics of the hybrid can be found below:
Parameter | Description |
Ripening period | Courage belongs to early ripening varieties, therefore, a massive collection of fruits is made 1.5 months after sowing. In greenhouse conditions, this period is reduced by about 10 days. The advantage of the variety is that it can produce crops in winter (on 50-55 day after planting) or in spring and summer (on 35-40 day of emergence of young shoots). |
Growing conditions | The plant is parthenocarpic and has a female type of flowering, so it can be grown both in open ground and in a greenhouse or greenhouse. |
Productivity | Yield indicators depend on growing conditions. If the vegetable is cultivated in greenhouses, then from 1 square. m will be able to collect up to 40-50 kg of fruit. When grown in open field with 1 square. m beds you can get 16-18 kg of cucumbers. |
Weather resistant | The hybrid is not afraid of adverse weather factors and is excellent for cultivation in the second turn, which is especially true for the southern regions. In this case, the yield will be 12 kg per 1 sq. Km. m beds. |
Disease resistance | This variety is not afraid of powdery mildew (real and false), and is also resistant to root rot, olive spotting and the cucumber mosaic virus. |
Harvesting | In order not to slow down the growth of the cucumber bush, it is advisable to collect the first fruits early, when the green leaves will reach 10-11 cm in length. In the future, they must be collected as they ripen, without overexposing the plant, since this will prevent the formation of new ovaries and will affect yield indicators . |
Agricultural technology
Cucumber Courage needs to be cultivated in compliance with the following agrotechnical rules:
- There are two ways to grow a culture - seedlings or through direct sowing of seeds in open ground.
- The optimal time for sowing seeds during the summer-autumn turnover is the first decade of June, and for transplanting seedlings into the ground - the first decade of July. However, landing can be done until the end of July. In any case, you need to plant cucumbers in open ground at a time when the temperature of the soil warms up at a depth of 10-15 cm to 15 ° C.
It is not worth dragging out the planting of crops much, since with each overdue week the yield is from 1 sq. Km. m will fall by about 1 kg, which is associated with a decrease in illumination.
- Plant cucumber in well-lit areas protected from winds, drafts and cold weather. In this case, it is desirable that the place is not overheated by sunlight, since the plant loves moisture. A slight shadow in the hottest time of the day is only welcome.
- Under the culture, choose a soil that is light in mechanical composition with a high humus content. A good option is loam, sandy loam soil, fertile black soil.
- Plant cucumber in the area where legumes, potatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots or other root crops grew last year. The worst predecessors are watermelons, melon, pumpkin and other representatives of gourds.
- Before planting cucumbers, the soil should be prepared beforehand. It is advisable to add organic fertilizers in the amount of 3 cups of ash, 3 buckets of manure and 70 g of nitroammophosk per 1 sq. M from the fall. m. In spring, dig the soil on a bayonet shovel and, if necessary, fertilize with compost at the rate of 1 bucket per 1 square. m, and then cover with a film so that it warms up.
- For the vegetable crop, organize the right care, which consists in watering, fertilizing and protecting the seedlings from pests and insects. It is equally important to form bushes correctly and partially remove leaf layers without leaving petioles.
Seed preparation
Before planting, seeds must be treated against harmful microorganisms. This is done in several stages:
- Soak the seeds in saline (2 tbsp. L. Salt in 1 l. Of water) for 20 minutes. Surfaced instances are not viable, therefore they need to be rejected.
- Rinse the seeds settled to the bottom in warm water and soak for 30 minutes in a pink solution of potassium permanganate at room temperature. For their disinfection, special preparations can also be used, for example, Epin-Extra or Baikal EM-1.
- Rinse the seeds thoroughly and place them in a flap of cloth, and then pour plenty of water afterwards so that they do not dry out. To provide them with a warm and humid microclimate, the seeds can be placed under a plastic bag. They will hatch already on the 4th day. If sprouts do not appear even within a week, then planting material must be discarded, since it is unsuitable for planting.
- Place the germinated seeds in a damp cloth on the lower shelf of the refrigerator and harden for two days to form their immunity and increase stress resistance.
In properly processed seeds of this hybrid, germination is more than 95%.
Direct sowing of seeds in open ground
Landing work should be carried out only after the soil temperature rises + 10 ... + 15 ° C. If the seeds are planted in cold soil, then, at best, weak, retarded bushes with poor fruiting will grow from them.
To avoid such consequences, you can prepare a warm bed for a cucumber. It will trigger biological reactions like those that occur in a compost heap, so the plant will be in greenhouse conditions. A warm bed is created as follows:
- Dig a trench of the right size to a depth of 1-2 bayonet shovels.
- Lay the first drainage layer in the form of tree branches, with smaller branches needing to be folded into large ones.
- Pour a second layer of drainage from paper, dry foliage, food waste, sawdust and shavings.
- Tamp everything, pour plenty of warm water, and then with mullein (1:10) at the rate of 1 bucket per 1 sq. Km. m
- Lay the last layer - fertile soil mixed with humus or compost, at the rate of 1-2 buckets per 1 sq. Km. m
- Borders of a bed to issue with boards.
On such a site you can grow a cucumber Courage, which can be done in two ways:
- Horizontal. With this cultivation, cucumber lashes will spread on the ground. So, there is no need to form bushes, and you only need to evenly distribute them on the surface of the beds
- Upright. This method involves creating supports for the culture, allowing the bushes to grow up. They need to be properly formed, otherwise productivity indicators will suffer.
Strong-growing cucumber Courage is best grown on a trellis, which greatly facilitates the ventilation of the plant during the ripening process, as well as the harvesting process itself.
Often gardeners prefer the vertical method, since it saves space on the garden bed. In any case, the sowing of seeds is carried out in the following order:
- Prepare holes in the bed with an interval of 50 cm. The optimal distance between the rows is also 50 cm. Thus, the landing pattern is 50x50 cm.
- Add 2 parts of urea and a handful of humus to each well. Mix everything thoroughly with the ground and pour over water.
- Throw 2-3 seeds into each furrow to a depth of at least 3-4 cm, and then sprinkle with earth.
- Cover the sown seeds with a film or other material to create a greenhouse effect. With the advent of the first shoots, raise the shelter. When the air warms up to + 15 ° C, it can be completely removed.
In a few weeks after planting, seedlings will appear, which must be thinned out in the necessary order, leaving at least 35 cm between the seedlings.
Planting through seedlings
Seedling method allows you to get an early crop, but is more time-consuming, since it requires the cultivation of strong seedlings. It is advisable to sow the seeds in separate peat pots with a volume of 0.5 l, which can be immediately planted in a permanent place without removing seedlings from the container and without disturbing the delicate root system of cucumber seedlings.
After sowing, containers with seeds should be kept in a room where the air temperature is at least + 27-28 ° C. For this, the containers can be kept near the battery or in the kitchen. When the first shoots appear, the seedlings must be moved to a cooler place and kept at an air temperature of no more than + 18 ° C so that it does not stretch unnecessarily. For this, the containers can be transferred to the greenhouse, and near them one or more large barrels of water should be kept as a heat accumulator.
A week before planting in open ground, it is necessary to begin hardening of the seedlings, taking them out daily for several hours on the balcony or on the street. The weather should be warm and calm. Thanks to such manipulations, they will be able to adapt faster at a constant place of growth.
You need to transplant seedlings into the soil at the age of 3-4 weeks, when it will have 3-4 real leaves and a root system of 4-5 roots 8-10 cm long. The optimal planting scheme is 50x50 cm.
Seedling Care
To get a good crop, you need to properly care for the sowing, conducting all the necessary agricultural activities on time.
Watering
Hybrid Courage is a water-loving plant, so watering should be plentiful and regular. To do this, you need to use warm water, left in the sun for 6-8 hours.
Water the cucumbers in such a way that the water does not stagnate in the soil. It should not be poured under the bushes, so as not to wash off the soil from the roots, which are close to the surface of the soil. So, when watering the entire area of the garden you just need to moisten. Another way is to prepare shallow grooves for water between the bushes.
In any case, you need to water the plant 1 time in 2-3 days at the rate of 4-5 liters per bush. Of course, when growing cucumbers in open ground, the irrigation regime needs to be adjusted depending on weather conditions. If the weather is hot and arid, moisten the beds every day. If the summer is cold and cloudy, then watering will need to be reduced.
It must be borne in mind that the cucumber needs the most abundant watering at such stages of its development:
- with the formation of the first ovaries;
- during the period of mass fruiting;
- after completion of the harvest.
During these periods, you need to water the bushes every 2-3 days at the rate of 9-12 liters of water per 1 sq. Km. If the plant lacks moisture, then this will cause bitterness in greenbacks, so their taste will be significantly affected.
Top dressing
80% yield indicators depend on the timely application of fertilizing and watering. For the season, it is advisable to fertilize the plant 4 times. In hot weather, top dressing should be applied to the ground. In other conditions, it is better to spray cucumbers with nutrient solutions.
The best time for feeding is the evening of a cloudy day. It is advisable that it rains on the eve of this procedure.
The approximate feeding scheme for cucumber Courage looks like this:
- 15 days after disembarkation. Water the plant with a solution of fresh manure (1:10) or chicken droppings (1:15). For the same purpose, you can use the infusion of green grass. For its preparation, the raw materials need to be finely chopped, fill the pan with it by a third, fill with water, close the lid tightly and leave in the sun for 3-4 days. As soon as a characteristic odor appears, strain the infusion, dilute with water (1: 5) and use as directed.
- In the flowering phase. Water the plant again with infusion of fresh grass. Cucumbers can also be fed with such means:
- Mineral solution of 35-40 g of simple superphosphate, 25 g of potassium and ammonium nitrate per 10 l of water. A glass of sifted wood ash can be added to the mixture. An alternative is ash infusion, for the preparation of which 500 g of powder should be poured with 10 liters of water, insisted for 3-4 hours, filtered and used as intended.
- Mineral composition for foliar top dressing from 3 g of simple superphosphate, or from 10 g of boric acid and 7-10 crystals of potassium permanganate, or from 3 g of boric acid and 100 g of granulated sugar per 1 liter of water. When preparing the last composition, you need to use hot water, otherwise the sugar will not completely dissolve.
- At the initial stage of mass fruiting. Feed cucumbers again with the infusion of herbs, as well as the mineral composition of 35 g of potassium nitrate and 50 g of urea per 10 liters of water. Bushes should also be sprayed with a urea solution (10-15 g per 10 liters of water).
- 10-12 days after the previous feeding. Pour the plant with infusion of fresh hay (leave for 2-3 days) or ash (200 g per 10 l of water), as well as a soda solution (25-30 g of baking soda per 10 l of water). The leaves should be additionally sprayed with a urea solution (15 g per 10 liters of water).
Bush formation
With vertical cultivation, it is necessary to correctly form the lash, so that a variety with a bouquet type of flowering can fully bear fruit. The fact is that in the process of ripening, large leaves unnecessarily thicken the fruits, preventing their full coverage.As a result, cucumbers lag behind in development, the tops are covered with yellowness and disappear, after which the ovaries begin to fill and slowly die off.
To prevent such consequences, you need to pinch the shoots and ovaries in time, as well as remove unnecessary leaves. Here is the optimal scheme for forming a bush in one stalk:
- In the sinuses of the first 4-6 leaves, remove all the ovaries and lateral shoots, so that the plant directs all its forces to the formation of a powerful root system and leaf apparatus.
- Starting from 5-7 leaves until the plant reaches a trellis (2.2 m) in the sinuses, only remove lateral shoots, cutting off the last leaves and leaving stalks 3-5 cm long. Do not overdo it, since a sharp loss of green mass is a big stress for plants. So, at a time it is worth removing no more than 3-4 leaves. After a day, the bushes can be fed with Novosil.
- Next, direct the plant along the trellis and pinch the top when it reaches the neighboring plant or the ceiling of the greenhouse. Previously, it should be wrapped twice around the support. In 2-3 knots under the trellis, you can leave not only the ovaries, but also shoots, pinching them after 2 sheets.
Due to this formation, the plant can provide maximum illumination, which will contribute to greater photosynthetic activity of the leaves and the laying of ovaries.
With horizontal cultivation, the whips of the culture do not need to be formed. However, they must be evenly distributed on the ground to provide them with good lighting.
Protection against diseases and pests
The authors claim that the variety is tolerant to powdery mildew, mosaic, olive spotting and root rot, but may be affected by other diseases. These include:
- Fusarium. It develops unexpectedly and rapidly, so the bush can wither within 12-24 hours. Sick specimens must be removed from the garden and destroyed. For preventive purposes, before planting, the seeds should be doused with boiling water or soaked in a bright pink solution of potassium permanganate.
- Anthracnose. Fungal disease, which is manifested by white or light yellow spots on the leaves. Shallow, but wide dents, covering with pink mucus or bloom are visible on the fruits. They need to be discarded because they taste too bitter.
Sick bushes will have to be removed, and the rest - sprayed with a solution of Bordeaux fluid (1%) or copper chloroxide (0.5%). Such treatments should be carried out several times a week and interrupted 3-4 days before harvest. Every 10-12 days, the bushes can also be sprayed with a suspension of bleach (30-35 g per 10 liters of water). Interrupt processing at least 3 weeks prior to harvest. Among the drugs effective are Home and Ridomil Gold. - Bacteriosis. It manifests itself as small "ulcers" on the cotyledons and brown spots of an angular shape on the leaves, which become convex. With increased humidity on the back of the green mass, cloudy drops of a dark brown color appear. Affected areas die off, and holes appear on the leaves.
Gradually, the disease spreads to the lashes and fruits. The diseased plant needs to be removed, and the remaining bushes should be watered with a 2-3% solution of Bordeaux fluid.
- White rot (sclerotinia). It develops in conditions of high humidity. White spots appear on lashes, foliage and cucumbers, covered with a thin coating. Gradually they become soft, translucent and watery. Affected areas need to be cut off, otherwise the whole plant will rot. To treat the cut sites with a composition of 2 g of copper sulfate and 10 g of urea per 10 l of water. If you had to tear out the whole bush, then the soil in this place should be sprinkled with crushed coal or slaked lime at the rate of 200 g per 1 sq. Km. m
- Cladosporiosis. The leaves are covered with gray or stormy spots, and then dry and die. The fungus can spread to the fruits, which will have to be removed and thrown away, because if they are damaged, they get an unpleasant aftertaste. For prevention, the greenhouse needs to be ventilated every day. Sick plants and soil should be treated with a 1% Bordeaux mixture (100 ml per 10 l) every 8-12 days. The consumption rate per bush is 300-500 ml.
In addition to these diseases, some pests pose a danger to Cucumber Courage:
- Aphid. The leaves become stained and curled, and the flowers and ovaries fall off. Affected specimens should be sprayed with infusion of tobacco dust or wood ash, soap solution. Among the drugs will help insecticides Fitoverm, Strela, Inta-Vir.
- Thrips. Small insects appear on leaves and lashes, which are covered with spots of beige and yellow. They quickly turn brown, and the bush dries up. To scare away the pest, the plant needs to be sprayed with infusion of yarrow or hot pepper. Of the drugs, a 0.5% solution of Karbofos or Actellik will help.
- Spider mite. On the leaves and stems, you can notice a characteristic cobweb. Affected areas turn light green, and then pale yellow. They end up dying. Sick leaves should be washed with soapy water, as well as sprinkled with infusion of yarrow, celandine, and dandelion. Among the drugs, acaricides will help - Akartan, Aldikarb, Zolon, Metaphos, Phosphamide, Tsidal, Beacon.
- Slug. Pests leave sticky, silvery paths behind them. The plants affected by them do not bear fruit well, and the fruits are poorly stored and rot quickly. To scare away slugs, the bed needs to be loosened and sprinkled with ash or tobacco dust. Among the drugs will help Metaldehyde and Thunderstorm.
- Whitefly. Butterfly larvae leave a sticky substance on the leaves and stems. Cucumbers blacken and die. Against the pest will help Fitoverm and Admiral. Identified larvae can be removed manually or with adhesive tape.
- Gall nematode. It settles on the roots and sucks out juices from them, so the plant weakens and dies. Sick plants need to be dug up and burned, and a layer of soil with a thickness of at least 50 cm should be removed and replaced.
To protect the cucumber culture from the invasion of pests, in the autumn, the soil needs to be dug deeply, and all weeds and plant debris should be removed.
Find out more about the diseases and pests of cucumbers here.
Features of growing in a greenhouse
If cucumbers of the Variety variety are grown in a greenhouse, the following features should be taken into account:
- In autumn, the soil surface must be cleaned of plant debris and weeds. In this case, it is desirable to change the top layer of the earth 5-7 cm thick 2-3 times a year in order to remove all pathogenic microflora from the greenhouse. The lack of substrate can be made up with a mixture of loam and compost or manure transferred in a ratio of 1: 1.
In the spring of the garden, it’s worth digging again and adding mineral fertilizers - 30 g of urea, 40 g of superphosphate and 20 g of potassium top dressing per 1 sq. Km. m - Form bushes in one stalk to increase crop yield.
- To remove lateral shoots from the main stem in the sinuses of 4 formed leaves.
- It is not necessary to regulate the number of ovaries.
- Provide the plant with a good level of lighting.
If the leaves begin to fade, they should be watered or sprinkled with a warm solution of chalk (200-250 g per 10 l). This procedure will significantly reduce the air temperature in the greenhouse and raise its humidity level.
Harvesting and storage
On the 40th day after the emergence of seedlings, you can begin to harvest. As a rule, this period falls in mid-July. The first greens to shoot at the moment when they grow to 10-11 cm.
It must be remembered that the plant has a bouquet type of ovary formation, therefore, the more often the fruits are picked, the faster the ovaries will ripen, increasing the yield from one bush to 10 kg, and from 1 square. m beds - up to 16-20 cm.
In the future, cucumbers need to be removed as they ripen, preferably every 2 days. It is not necessary to overexposure them on the lashes, as this will adversely affect the taste of the greens and reduce the plant's yield.
Cucumbers need to be removed unripe so that they are not bitter. Completely ripe fruits are only suitable for extracting seeds from them, however, the Courage variety cannot be propagated in this way.
The best time to harvest is early morning or late evening. Elastic and juicy cucumbers can not be torn off by hands, unscrewed or pulled by the shoots, as this can lead to the death of the plant. They need to be carefully cut with a sharp knife or sectors so that the stalk remains on the bush.
If you immediately remove the cucumbers from the bush in a dark and cool place (+ 7 ... + 10 ºС) with a constant humidity of 80-90%, they will retain their taste and marketability for 8-10 days. At the same time, it is desirable to cover them with burlap or other opaque permeable material. If you keep the fruits on the street, then after 2-3 days they will become flabby and lose their attractive qualities.
Before mortgaging the cucumbers for storage in the cellar, they need to be sorted out, removing all copies with signs of damage, deformation or other anomalies. It is better to keep good fruits not on the floor, but on wooden pallets, in cardboard boxes or crates. Their bottom must be lined with polyethylene in advance.
Pros and cons
The strengths of the Courage variety are:
- high productivity (6-12 kg per one unit of area);
- the ability to self-pollinate, so it can be successfully grown in a greenhouse without creating special conditions for the formation of ovaries;
- resistance to many cucumber diseases and heat;
- fruiting by Zelentsy with excellent taste and marketability;
- good transportability;
- the possibility of cultivation in various climatic regions.
As for the shortcomings of the hybrid, they look like this:
- high cost of seed;
- exactingness to care and formation of bushes;
- the possibility of bitterness and voids in the fruit with insufficient watering.
Cucumber Courage is a hybrid that attracts gardeners with its early maturity, early ripening and excellent taste. The plant has a bouquet type of placement of ovaries, therefore, it is distinguished by a high and stable yield. In addition, it is parthenocarpic, therefore, does not require pollination by bees or other insects.